[sql] How to do a Postgresql subquery in select clause with join in from clause like SQL Server?

I am trying to write the following query on postgresql:

select name, author_id, count(1), 
    (select count(1)
    from names as n2
    where n2.id = n1.id
        and t2.author_id = t1.author_id
    )               
from names as n1
group by name, author_id

This would certainly work on Microsoft SQL Server but it does not at all on postegresql. I read its documentation a bit and it seems I could rewrite it as:

select name, author_id, count(1), total                     
from names as n1, (select count(1) as total
    from names as n2
    where n2.id = n1.id
        and n2.author_id = t1.author_id
    ) as total
group by name, author_id

But that returns the following error on postegresql: "subquery in FROM cannot refer to other relations of same query level". So I'm stuck. Does anyone know how I can achieve that?

Thanks

select n1.name, n1.author_id, cast(count_1 as numeric)/total_count
  from (select id, name, author_id, count(1) as count_1
          from names
          group by id, name, author_id) n1
inner join (select distinct(author_id), count(1) as total_count
              from names) n2
  on (n2.author_id = n1.author_id)
Where true

used distinct if more inner join, because more join group performance is slow

I am just answering here with the formatted version of the final sql I needed based on Bob Jarvis answer as posted in my comment above:

select n1.name, n1.author_id, cast(count_1 as numeric)/total_count
  from (select id, name, author_id, count(1) as count_1
          from names
          group by id, name, author_id) n1
inner join (select author_id, count(1) as total_count
              from names
              group by author_id) n2
  on (n2.author_id = n1.author_id)

I know this is old, but since Postgresql 9.3 there is an option to use a keyword "LATERAL" to use RELATED subqueries inside of JOINS, so the query from the question would look like:

SELECT 
    name, author_id, count(*), t.total
FROM
    names as n1
    INNER JOIN LATERAL (
        SELECT 
            count(*) as total
        FROM 
            names as n2
        WHERE 
            n2.id = n1.id
            AND n2.author_id = n1.author_id
    ) as t ON 1=1
GROUP BY 
    n1.name, n1.author_id

Complementing @Bob Jarvis and @dmikam answer, Postgres don't perform a good plan when you don't use LATERAL, below a simulation, in both cases the query data results are the same, but the cost are very different

Table structure

CREATE TABLE ITEMS (
    N INTEGER NOT NULL,
    S TEXT NOT NULL
);

INSERT INTO ITEMS
  SELECT
    (random()*1000000)::integer AS n,
    md5(random()::text) AS s
  FROM
    generate_series(1,1000000);

CREATE INDEX N_INDEX ON ITEMS(N);

Performing JOIN with GROUP BY in subquery without LATERAL

EXPLAIN 
SELECT 
    I.*
FROM ITEMS I
INNER JOIN (
    SELECT 
        COUNT(1), n
    FROM ITEMS
    GROUP BY N
) I2 ON I2.N = I.N
WHERE I.N IN (243477, 997947);

The results

Merge Join  (cost=0.87..637500.40 rows=23 width=37)
  Merge Cond: (i.n = items.n)
  ->  Index Scan using n_index on items i  (cost=0.43..101.28 rows=23 width=37)
        Index Cond: (n = ANY ('{243477,997947}'::integer[]))
  ->  GroupAggregate  (cost=0.43..626631.11 rows=861418 width=12)
        Group Key: items.n
        ->  Index Only Scan using n_index on items  (cost=0.43..593016.93 rows=10000000 width=4)

Using LATERAL

EXPLAIN 
SELECT 
    I.*
FROM ITEMS I
INNER JOIN LATERAL (
    SELECT 
        COUNT(1), n
    FROM ITEMS
    WHERE N = I.N
    GROUP BY N
) I2 ON 1=1 --I2.N = I.N
WHERE I.N IN (243477, 997947);

Results

Nested Loop  (cost=9.49..1319.97 rows=276 width=37)
  ->  Bitmap Heap Scan on items i  (cost=9.06..100.20 rows=23 width=37)
        Recheck Cond: (n = ANY ('{243477,997947}'::integer[]))
        ->  Bitmap Index Scan on n_index  (cost=0.00..9.05 rows=23 width=0)
              Index Cond: (n = ANY ('{243477,997947}'::integer[]))
  ->  GroupAggregate  (cost=0.43..52.79 rows=12 width=12)
        Group Key: items.n
        ->  Index Only Scan using n_index on items  (cost=0.43..52.64 rows=12 width=4)
              Index Cond: (n = i.n)

My Postgres version is PostgreSQL 10.3 (Debian 10.3-1.pgdg90+1)